Alternatives to Capitalism: Building a Business Rooted in Care, Not Extraction

I used to think success meant going it alone. Hustling. Proving myself. Making it look easy.

But I remember the exact moment that belief cracked. It was late at night, and I was staring at my laptop, drowning in invoices, marketing plans, and a deep, gnawing exhaustion. My work mattered, but capitalism’s version of business was slowly draining me.

Then, something shifted.

I started asking: What if business wasn’t about competing, but about collaborating? What if instead of extracting every dollar from our work, we built something that nourished us and our communities?

That’s when I found my way to alternative economic models—systems that prioritize care, equity, and sustainability over endless growth. And the best part? People are already making them work.

Alternatives to Capitalism—And Who’s Practicing Them

You don’t have to burn out or exploit yourself to run a business. Here are four real-world models, plus examples of people actively building them:

1. The Solidarity Economy

Instead of extraction and individualism, the solidarity economy prioritizes cooperation, mutual aid, and collective well-being.

How to Apply It:

• Offer a pay-what-you-can or sliding-scale option while ensuring a sustainable base price for yourself.
• Partner with other small businesses to co-market or bundle services, creating shared wealth instead of competition.
• Redirect a portion of profits toward community reinvestment, like local mutual aid efforts.

🛠 Who’s Doing This?

• Suena Collective is a worker-led creative agency offering sliding-scale rates based on client resources, ensuring access to branding and design for historically marginalized entrepreneurs.
• The Railyard Apothecary in Burlington, VT, operates with a cooperative model and offers pay-what-you-can herbal medicine, prioritizing accessibility over profit.

2. Cooperatives & Worker-Owned Models

Co-ops redistribute power and profit among workers and community members, rather than concentrating it at the top.

How to Apply It:

• If you hire contractors, consider setting up a profit-sharing agreement so they benefit when your business thrives.
• Join or form a business cooperative where members share marketing, resources, or back-office support.
• If you’re thinking long-term, explore converting your business into a worker-owned model as it grows.

🛠 Who’s Doing This?

• AORTA (Anti-Oppression Resource & Training Alliance) is a worker-owned cooperative of facilitators, trainers, and strategists helping organizations integrate anti-oppression principles.
• New Era Windows was formed when workers took over their factory in Chicago, proving that employee ownership can be a powerful alternative to traditional capitalism.

3. Gift & Reciprocity-Based Economies

These economies rely on relationships and generosity rather than rigid transactions. Contrary to capitalist myths, communities have thrived for centuries on mutual care rather than pure profit-seeking.

How to Apply It:

• Set up a community-supported model where some clients contribute more to subsidize others (e.g., “pay it forward” sessions).
• Create a skill-swapping or barter system within your industry or local community.
• Offer open-source resources or free educational content as a way to share knowledge without gatekeeping.

🛠 Who’s Doing This?

• Buy Nothing Project has built a global gift economy, proving that sharing resources freely strengthens communities.
• Marguerite Casey Foundation embraces trust-based philanthropy, giving unrestricted funding to grassroots organizations rather than dictating how money is spent.

4. Degrowth & Sustainable Business Practices

Degrowth challenges the capitalist obsession with endless expansion and instead focuses on sufficiency—meeting needs without excess.

How to Apply It:

• Set an income cap for yourself based on what you actually need to live well.
• Design your work around rest and sustainability, rather than cramming more into your schedule for the sake of profit.
• Instead of scaling up indefinitely, nurture deeper relationships with existing clients.

🛠 Who’s Doing This?

• Slow Factory teaches businesses and individuals about regenerative practices and sustainable alternatives to mass production.
• Center for Ethical Living and Social Justice Renewal in New Orleans focuses on justice-oriented economic models, resisting traditional capitalist growth patterns.

But What If You Need to Make Money Right Now?

I want to acknowledge something important: many of us don’t have the privilege of “slow growth.”

Maybe you come from generational poverty. Maybe your rent, bills, and basic survival depend on making money now, not some distant future where your business is perfectly aligned with your values. And I want to tell you—that contradiction is real, and it’s okay to navigate it step by step.

Here’s what that can look like:

• Pick one tiny piece of this pie to start with. Maybe that’s just offering a sliding scale for one service. Or finding one business friend to trade skills with instead of hiring out. You don’t have to do it all at once.
• Keep your needs at the center. Anti-capitalist business doesn’t mean martyring yourself. If you need to take on work that doesn’t 100% align with your values right now, that doesn’t mean you’re failing—it means you’re surviving.
• Build toward the business you want, even if it’s in small steps. You don’t have to reject every capitalist structure immediately. But over time, you can shift toward practices that feel better—one sustainable choice at a time.

Some of us don’t have the luxury to “opt out” of capitalism entirely. But what we can do is carve out spaces of care, fairness, and collective well-being within it. Your business can be part of that shift, even if right now you’re just finding your footing.

Let’s Reimagine Business Together

I’d love to hear from you: What’s one way you’re already practicing an alternative to capitalism in your business?

Or if this sparks something in you but you don’t know where to start, let’s chat. There’s another way forward, and we don’t have to walk it alone.

In solidarity,

Emily